We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

An Ear To The Earth

by Mark Moldre

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 AUD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    FREE SHIPPING AUSTRALIA WIDE!

    Complete with 12 page booklet/lyric sheets on recycled paper with art by Brett Curzon

    A FREE COPY OF MARK'S TROUBLED GENIUS EP WILL NOW BE INCLUDED WITH EVERY CD COPY AN EAR TO THE EARTH PURCHASED.

    ALL COPIES WILL BE SIGNED AND CONTAIN A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM MARK

    Includes unlimited streaming of An Ear To The Earth via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      $15 AUD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 12 Mark Moldre releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dream Decay (2 Track Single), Nambucca Fables, Every Waking Hour (Single), Fits And Starts, Notre Dame, Fever Dreams, An Ear To The Earth, The Waiting Room, and 4 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $47.45 AUD or more (35% OFF)

     

1.
Everything I Need The break of dawn The curtains drawn I hear you breathing low A dog over the hill and a train far away Everything I Need Is Here A fire burns The waiting birds The smoke it fills the room The echo of your voice through the kitchen walls Everything I Need Is Here Everything I Need Is Here I’ve made my bed of roses What I need is here Everything I Need, Everything I Need Is Here A crimson flood A splash of blood Flames whisper as you sleep Vanish In the embers as the sky congeals to black Everything I Need Is Here Oh won’t you rock me gently as I sleep tonight Everything I Need Is Here
2.
Nowhere At All A man he went a-wandering to avoid all the war mongering And settled in the east of Italy After all his travelling his life it was unravelling “You’ve no idea what the road has done to me” “Ah well I’m gonna cross the border, I’m not afraid of breaking orders Your boundary lines they mean nothing at all And this wind is full of promise It’ll blow away the jaundiced Cynicism filling up my soul” Home Is Within You Home Is Within You Home Is Within You or Nowhere At All And in his face well she could see a melancholic history From every wrinkle there could spring a song She called him sleepwalker; She said, “You live life like a sleepwalker” He said “Hey I wasn’t sleeping I was burying my feelings And the wind well it just blew me along Yes the wind is full of promise It can blow away the jaundiced dreams that I have carried for so long” And yes I will go wherever the wind may blow me And I will sleep wherever I rest my head And it don’t matter if there are no walls around you And there are clichés all over the world Because they’re true But the darkness it can follow you, overtake and swallow you And the wind can blow my ashes in the air I bottle up my ghosts in here I’m holding all my secrets near And writing all the words that I can’t share
3.
Madeleine 03:56
Madeleine I’ll follow her again tonight, and vanish as she sinks into the sea Shadows green neon lights, dance before my eyes as if to fool me She’ll become my mockingbird; she’ll become the one I once attained Muffled conversations I once heard, whisper softly in my ears again And she wanders God knows where she’s been If I could change the colour of your hair And softly kiss your lips beneath the bell tower And I’m set adrift as you climb the stairs But my words are lost in the wind and the bells And she wanders Angels watch as she wanders And she travels God knows where she’s been If this barren kiss is your final gift You cut the ropes and I’m all at sea I’m trapped here in my restlessness And frightened by my strange troubled romance She’s lost among the graves and I’m alone She’s lost among the graves and I’m alone
4.
Where Will I Be? The sky opened up it was iron clad black I thought I heard a voice in the thunderclap The voice said “Son what have you done To prove yourself a righteous one?” I buried my face in the ash and the dust It’s too late for that if your hearts turned to rust You gotta shovel the earth and dig your hole You gotta shovel the earth and dig your hole I said “Where Will I Be?” “Down in the dirt by the bottlebrush tree” I said “Where Will I Be? When the time comes When the time comes, when the time comes” Well there’s a road that’s narrow, a road that’s wide We’re on a dusty trail ‘tween the great divide And as he scrubbed my name out from his book The ground and the leaves and the trees all shook I gotta shovel the earth and dig my hole I gotta shovel the earth and dig my hole I said “Where Will I Be?” “Down In the dirt by the ironbark tree” I said “Where Will I Be?” “From dust you became and dust you will be” I said “Where Will I Be? When the time comes When the time comes, when the time comes” O, roll my bones, deflate my lungs Steal my breath and the songs we’ve sung Heaven above and heaven below I’ve paid my ticket to the picture show Heat will cool and bleach bones white Credits roll as day becomes night I’m gonna write my sins upon the air And watch them dissolve And watch them dissolve I said “Where Will I Be?” “Down In the dirt by the old gum tree” I said “Where Will I Be?” “From dust you became and dust you will be” I said “Where Will I Be? When the time comes When the time comes, When the time comes”
5.
I Don’t Know What’s Become Of Her I don’t know what’s become of her She left a trail of sugar cubes Between the thieves and the prostitutes So she could find her way home She caught glimpses of the Opera House From tired shopping malls and roundabouts You can know where you are and still be lost Hugging ghosts upon the road Time rode on, She stopped believing Until proved wrong She said ‘I’m tired and I don’t want to start To salvage what’s left of this broken heart Even the devil was once beautiful Full of topaz, jade and light But when you take the punches as they come, So you dance the dance and strum the strum Fake it ‘til you make it and you then become Somebody they despise Queued around the block Behind the nightclub She’d hear the tick tock Somebody said that she had asked for it Though no one cared enough to recollect Just who it was that she was talking to When she was swallowed by the night And one young girl said she turned around And saw her drivers license on the ground There was a hole where her face had been Beneath the coca cola sign
6.
Killer Anxiety Somebody switch my mind off Somebody make it stop Stick your hand inside my brain And turn the sucker off Tell me I’m not dying Or remind me I’m not dead Help me find my happy place Inside my spinning head I’ve got killer anxiety I’ve got killer anxiety Somebody slow the panic Somebody halt the fears Tell me all my phobias Are in between my ears Somebody slow my breathing And grab a paper bag Somebody call a doctor Before my two knees sag And if you wanna know me Just sit in on my therapy And if you wanna know me Just sit in on my therapy Tell me I’m not dying Or remind me I’m not dead Help me find my happy place Inside my spinning head Somebody start the party Somebody light the fuse Somebody find my pillbox I’ve got nothing left to lose
7.
Last Card 04:02
Last Card I’ll meet you in the reeds by the river and there I will lay down To stare up at the cold night sky and we’ll listen to the hum of the tide I’ll call your name out with the sirens, I’ll lure you from your front yard But as I stare into my hands my dear I realise I’m playing my last card We carve our names beneath the boathouse window I couldn’t tell you who half these people are Sometimes love can disappear like dust But we’re all lit up beneath the same dim winter star You wear the silver mist like an evening gown The withered trees are all standing guard And as you stare into your hands my dear You realise you’re playing your last card I pick the seven of hearts but it’s too late to start Your feet are all tangled in weeds Now as we drift slowly out to the horizon, While all that we have treasured we abandon and discard And as we stare into our weathered hands my dear We realise we’re playing our last card Yeah we realise we’re playing our last card Yeah we realise we’re playing our last card
8.
Four Winds 03:51
Four Winds I’m holding back the four winds And my arms are getting tired I’m holding back the four winds It’s been windy round these parts for quite a while I’m climbing Jacob’s Ladder And I’m itching for a fight I’m climbing Jacob’s Ladder And rung-by-rung I’m slipping through the night But there’s wheels within wheels spinning in my mind As all these restless passengers are thrown over the side Wheels within wheels and I’m trying to hitch a ride But the storm never stops and the wind never drops I’m swimming in the Red Sea Walls of water either side I’m swimming in the Red Sea Take me as the ocean opens wide Threads that hold us together These stitches are starting to fray Threads that hold us together Blow wind, blow these threads away Blow wind, blow away, blow until my dreams all come undone Ill wind blow away, sing to me the songs that we have sung
9.
Bone Orchard 02:22
Bone Orchard I’m going down to the Bone Orchard At the edge of town there’s a Bone Orchard I’m going down to the Bone Orchard Gonna lay my body down I got down on my knees last night And hollered up to the night sky I waited there for a reply But the voices were all in my head I whisper secrets to the air My words are smoke they’re everywhere The lake is burning fire tonight And the river is taking me home I walked up to Sovereign Hill I bought some liquor I paid my bill I dropped a preparation in my gin That’s the last thing I recall This is no town for tired old men Dreams of love haunt me again Leave sleeping dogs just where they lie When you wake I will be gone
10.
O, Dreamtime Blues Like children in a fable we head off down the road You with your dreamtime blues and me with my heavy load We prayed this wind would take us and blow these weeds to dust Limbless gumtrees seem to follow us; apparition in the dusk And these maps are filled with murder and the crops are full of bones Tangled in Lantana we’re just trying to find…. We tie our shoes with wire as we hitchhike to the coast Through brambles and dead lilac as you whisper to your ghosts And this heat could boil a billy right here on the bonnet of this car So we drink a little coffee and sleep beneath the stars I whispered ‘cross the lantern “Your reins have tightened round my heart” I said “Baby am I dreaming?” Then bullets fell like stars The rain it woke my slumber still we lay and listened to the birds Memories in embers shrivel and disappear as they burn “Josey, can you hear that? The magpies called our names” Douse the forest fire with teaspoons watch our history in the flames The moon it overtook me, left its image in the air The night sky just engulfs you here; smell of eucalyptus in your hair You know I’ll still be waiting here long after you’ve gone We’re so tied up together these threads just will not come undone

about

OUT ON LAUGHING OUTLAW RECORDS
www.laughingoutlaw.com.au/store/product.asp?pID=307

Over the years Mark Moldre has played music in a variety of settings. He’s suited up to sing Chet Baker styled standards in jazz quartets. He’s donned white pants and bad floral shirts to play in traditional Jamaican calypso bands. Late at night you may have caught him in purple flares and star shaped sunglasses in a variety of psychedelic 70’s funk outfits. He’s been a gun for hire in blues, indie rock and country bands.

Yet on previous occasions when the time came for starting an album he would brush all those styles under the rug in favour of writing more standard singer/songwriter type songs. “On An Ear To The Earth I hoped to make a completely different recording – a more eclectic one – I didn’t want to make any of my usual choices. This time I wanted to exit the highway and explore the lanes, alleyways and side streets of my musical history” says Moldre “I’ve always buried those sides of my past when the time came to make a record. This time I wanted to find a way to bring those elements out rather than hide them. I also decided that I would not write any songs about my feelings or myself. No heart on my sleeve stuff. No confessionals. No crying in my gin. I wanted to collaborate more. I’d fallen into musical habits. I needed to break all my unnecessary self imposed rules.”

Mark started to write – finding inspiration in a newspaper headline for the song “I Don’t Know What’s Become Of Her”. “Madeleine” was inspired by the Hitchcock movie Vertigo. “Everything I Need” was conjured after an unsettling dream. “O, Dreamtime Blues” practically spouted from his pen after finishing Paul Kelly’s brilliant autobiography. “Nowhere at All” was written after a late night session reading up on Hermann Hesse and “Where Will I Be?” evolved after watching a scene in the movie Big Fish wherein 3 boys witness their future demise in the eye of an old woman.

As the songs began to take shape – Moldre started to incorporate parts of his musical background that previously he’d pushed aside. A jump up, percussion driven calypso, a riotous Dixie romp, a late night Mexican infused jazz ballad, a couple of old fashioned holler and stomp blues tunes, even European and Country waltzes. “I needed to shake things up and I needed someone who could pull all these diverse threads into a cohesive album. I called my old childhood friend Jamie Hutchings (Bluebottle Kiss) and asked if he’d be interested in listening to my demos with the idea that he would produce. Things clicked, rehearsals began and Jamie beat the arrangements into shape with his familiar spit, grit and sandpaper approach…. and we co-wrote a couple of tunes”

Hutchings decided that the best way to capture these songs was live, with a band, – straight to 1” reel to reel tape. Not a computer in sight. So he called up engineer Chris Colquhoun and scavenged, borrowed and begged for as much gear as would fit into a couple of station wagons and set up shop in a small guest house in the beautiful beach hamlet of Avalon over a period of six days.

An Ear To The Earth is filled with dark corners, tender romance, redemption and death, human struggle versus biblical consequences, dreams and bad weather. It’s gritty and smooth, poignant whilst occasionally raucous, diverse – and yet somehow it all hangs together. It’s Moldre’s musical history across 10 varying chapters.

Find out why Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst chose Mark in his Top Ten creative Sydney-ites for the VIVID festival and was moved to say (about Moldre’s last solo album The Waiting Room): “A beautifully produced album of melancholic melodies; sad, grand, scary. 4 stars.”

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: CD OF THE WEEK ”This is music to drink to. Not to get drunk to, but to have on while you’re gabbing with your mates, while you’re sitting watching your kids play in the shallows and maybe even while knitting in the lodge. There’s a loose, almost ramshackle element to it, as if you’ve popped around the back to find a pick-up band rattling through some old country/folk/blues numbers for fun. Imagine a less garrulous and noisy Tom Waits (for example the New orleans brass and clarinet in Everything I Need Is Here) a late-night Ryan Adams (the droopy eyed Dreamtime Blues) and a kind of Sydney Willie Nelson (I Don’t Know What’s Become Of Her) and you’ll have a sense of the relaxed but never actually soft atmosphere here.” Bernard Zuel

"Mark Moldre’s second album has you thinking he could be an Aussie version of Tom Waits. But he’s a sweeter singer." ★ ★ ★ ★ STACK MAGAZINE

"Moldre, a gifted lyricist and melody-maker, manages to piece together different styles, both coherently and beautifully" ★ ★ ★ ★ ALT MEDIA GROUP

"An Ear To The Earth is exactly what you want from an artist – a record that shows they’re stretching themselves, expanding their art and reverentially experimenting with the great art of songwriting." DRUM MEDIA

MESS AND NOISE: “Quixotic and genre defying”

THEMUSIC.COM.AU: “Stepping way out of his comfort zone, singer-songwriter Mark Moldre delivers an album Nick Cave would be proud of” Michael Smith

INPRESS: “An Ear To The Earth is one of 2013′s tastiest trips, taking the listener on a rollicking, rootsy journey. One minute, it rumbles; the next, it’s gentle and poignant.”

TIME OFF: “His 2010 solo debut The Waiting Room earned serious plaudits, and after a lengthy gestation period his new follow-up, An Ear To The Earth, has already proved a more-than-worthy successor. Possessing a vastly different tone to it’s predecessor, the album’s folk-tinged indie stylings are characterised by watertight songwriting, deft imagery and imaginative arrangements, and it has a far coarser feel overall than his previous fare” Steve Bell

www.markmoldre.com
www.facebook.com/markmoldreofficial

credits

released May 28, 2013

Produced by Jamie Hutchings
Engineered by Chris Colquhoun
Mixed by Chris Colquhoun and Jamie Hutchings

This long player was recorded direct to reel-to-reel tape, live – the old fashioned way – at a small guesthouse at Avalon. (Thanks to the Mort family for the use of their space). Tape transfer was accomplished at Linear Recording.

The Players:
Mark Moldre: Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Nylon String Guitar, Banjo, Melodica, Stomps, Claps
Jamie Hutchings: Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Stomps, Claps
Scott Hutchings: Drums, Percussion, Stomps, Group Vocals, Claps
Reuben Wills: Double Bass, Group Vocals, Musical Saw, Stomps, Claps
Adam Lang: Banjo, Lap Slide, Pedal Steel, Stomps, Claps
Lee Hutchings: Clarinet
Jochen Gutsch: Trumpet
Gregory Bennett: Tuba, Trombone

All songs written by Mark Moldre except
I Don’t Know What’s Become Of Her (Moldre/J. Hutchings)
Arrangement assistance by Jamie Hutchings

Artwork and layout by Brett Curzon
Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering, Phoenix AZ USA

Massive thanks to the following, without whom none of this would have been possible: Jo, Bronte, Chet & Billie for letting me off the leash, Mum and Dad, Lee and Aunty Fran for the rehearsal space, Chris C and Jamie for going the extra mile, Stuart Coupe, Macron Music and the lads, the Mort family, Shane Pex + Brad Baldock + Dave Dalton for the loaners, Brett Curzon for all your art assistance over the years, Swart Amps, The Guitar Repairers, timEbandit Powles and Michael Carpenter for unwavering faith/support /love. Reuben, Adam, Scott, Lee, Jochen and Gregory for dropping whatever they were doing and picking up their instruments.

www.markmoldre.com

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Mark Moldre Sydney, Australia

"If Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Jeff Tweedy were pushed out to sea in a rickety old boat they’d come up with something like this. ..a boisterous yet soulful musical journey worth the fare. You’ll be stomping and crying and laughing, and if you’re lucky to catch Moldre live, you’ll be doing all three with a whiskey in hand.” Timber & Steel ... more

contact / help

Contact Mark Moldre

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Mark Moldre recommends:

If you like Mark Moldre, you may also like: